http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=757&e=7&u=/nm/20050407/od_nm/odd_manure_dc

Harvard Economics Prof Charged in Manure Case

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Harvard professor who specializes in environmental economics was arrested on suspicion of trying to steal a load of manure from a Massachusetts farm, a police officer said on Wednesday.

Professor Martin Weitzman was arrested near the town of Rockport on April 1, Rockport police officer Michael Marino said.

Philip Casey, who manages a horse stable at the farm, had called police after finding Weitzman and his truck on the farm and stopped him from leaving, Marino said.

The Harvard academic was charged with trespassing, larceny under $250, and malicious destruction of property -- because the truck left marks on the farm, Marino said.

"He seemed a little befuddled standing there with a truck bed full of manure," Marino said. Weitzman then offered to pay for the manure on his truck, he said.

Weitzman, whose research interests listed on a Harvard Web site include the economics of biodiversity and global warming, did not return calls seeking comment.

Casey told the Gloucester Daily Times that manure thefts had been a long-standing problem.

I heard about this like 2 days before the story appeared on Yahoo...

What this illustrates is the bubble some academics live in....this "shithead" professor, despite being an EXPERT in his chosen field (i.e. SHIT), has no clue that his hauling off a load of SHIT is actually a big deal to the people who depend on said SHIT for a living.....when I graduated The Real World hit me like a Mary Carey bellyflop in a kiddie pool.

What I thought was funny:

This isn't some idiot political professor claiming that the shit should be free because it came from an enslaved cow acting through natural causes the tyrannical farmer did not contribute to.

The is an economics professor, who ought to realize that someone had to spend man-hours collecting the shit with a shovel, had to feed the cow, and had to protect it. Not to mention that the existence of a market in shit should be a hint that maybe it has value...

I would love to here how he explains this one to students and other faculty.